The green light will continue to stay on for local bag bans in Illinois.

Early this year, a bill attempted to prohibit most local governments from banning plastic bags, and instead focused on plastic bag recycling.

We were quick to inform the state that California's plastic bag recycling program resulted in a 3% recycling rate even with collection bins in nearly every grocery store.

Plastic bags litter our environment, threaten our widlife, and gum up recycling machinery. Millions are spent unnecessarily each year to maintain, mitigate, and offset the costs of plastic bags.

The Illinois legislature reconvened for its veto session this week. Yesterday, an attempt to override SB 3442 fell flat, and did not reach the 36 votes needed to override Governor Pat Quinn's veto.

Earlier this year, the bill had narrowly passed the legislature (24-23) in a second attempt, and was shot down by the governor in August after much encouragement from the public, including an online petition created by a local Illinois girl trying to ban bags in her own city.